


Bets and Boss Fights

by BlueMonkeyFan23



Category: Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!
Genre: (Everyday life), (Gibson wins at video games because of unrelated logic), (Sprx is impressed but covers it up with salt), (platonic) - Freeform, Gen, Sprx centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27296197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueMonkeyFan23/pseuds/BlueMonkeyFan23
Summary: When a boss proves too hard to win, dare your friendly neighborhood egghead to give it a shot. He might end up surprising you.
Relationships: Gibson & SPRX-77 (Super Robot Monkey Team)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Bets and Boss Fights

This was it. This was going to be the one!

Sprx sat forward as he gripped the controller, ready to fight the big boss again. He’d already fought it six times beforehand, but that was just a warm up. Lucky try number seven was on its way!

Or so he thought, as his character was one-shotted by the boss’s charge attack as soon as he got it into the second phase.

‘Dangit! All right, fine. Lucky seven is overrated anyway. Let’s see where number eight gets me then.’ Sprx thought as his character walked over into the boss’s arena again. 

…And was immediately caught in an animation loop and killed by the boss in its first phase. 

Sprx fumed. It was going to be one of those days today wasn’t it? Perfect. Skeleton King was quiet for once, there were no alarms or impending doom anywhere in sight, and of course the one day he got to relax he couldn’t even beat a boss in his favorite video game!

“Sprx, there you are. I have been looking for you everywhere.”

Aaaand now things were going to get a whole lot more difficult.

“Not now Gibson, I’m in the middle of something real important here.” Sprx said loudly as he crossed into the arena again.

Gibson remained suspiciously quiet as Sprx tried to beat the boss, getting it once again to the second phase before the charge attack got him stuck in a loop and his character died once more.

“Hm, yes getting your tail handed to you in a virtual simulation seems very important.” Gibson said sarcastically.

“Do you need something _Brain Strain_?” Sprx gritted as his eyebrow twitched a bit.

“Yes unfortunately. I was hoping to borrow your magnetic abilities for a few minuets to rearrange some of the robot’s cables in the cargo bay. They are far too heavy for me to lift myself.”

“So why not ask Nova or Otto then?” Sprx said as he walked his character back.

“Nova and Antauri are currently on patrol in the outskirts of the city, and Otto, Chiro, and Jinmay have gone to check out the city’s newest bakery. As it stands you and I are the only ones currently left in the robot so I figured I would attempt to ask you.” 

“Well no dice brainiac. I beat this boss I get bragging rights and all of the sweets in Otto’s secret stash for the rest of the week and I don’t need any distractions.” Sprx said as his character once again ate the floor as the boss slammed down and one-shotted him.

Gibson was silent while as Sprx attempted another try. Watching the screen along with Sprx as he got his character killed three more times before he decided to speak up.

“How many times you been attempting to beat this boss?”

“Today? Ten…so far. Altogether? Uh, thirty-two I think. I lost count the last time I played.”

“It’s taking you that many tries already?”

“Said the one who isn’t playing. This guy’s the hardest boss fight in the game, and he’s not even the big bad endgame boss! No ones been able to get a solid strategy on him. He’s overpowered and weirdly paced and I haven’t seen anyone who’s been able to get a clean kill on him yet.”

“And you’re attempting to now?”

“I’m just trying to beat the guy! As much as I’d love to get points for style I’m getting my tail handed to me enough already, so it doesn’t matter.”

Gibson went quiet as Sprx tried again. 

He was able to cleanly get into the second phase of the fight without taking too much damage, but about halfway into it he started to hear a faint tapping noise. Before he could question it the momentary distraction was enough to make him lose focus and the boss rushed him again. Sprx grumbled and ran his previously defeated character into the arena again.

As soon as he did he began to hear the tapping immediately, soft but defiantly present. He tried to not let it distract him and pushed it into the background as he got into the zone. He took a lot of damage in the first phase and a bit more on the second, but he finally succeeded enough to get the boss into its infamous third stage. Unfortunately, Sprx didn’t have much practice with the third phase as he did with the first and second, so he quickly lost his rhythm and his character took one hit from the boss’s weapons before he died again. 

Sprx took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose in frustration. Where was he going wrong all the time? He briefly thought half of the problem was because he had an audience, but he knew he didn’t really care what Gibson was doing at the moment. Honestly, he didn’t really think Gibson was even paying attention to the game and was probably just waiting for Sprx to get frustrated enough to quit.

‘Well too bad Gibson.’ Sprx thought. ‘I’m not stopping until I kick this guy’s virtual butt.’

Sprx held this confidence for the next six tries, as he desperately tried to find a strategy that worked.

Each time he would cross into the arena he would still hear the tapping but ultimately decided to keep ignoring it in favor of figuring out the fight. It wasn’t until after the seventeenth try where he quickly started to lose it. Time after time he tried to keep his head above water, but time after time the boss would counter with charges, frame loops, and an insane amount of overpowered attacks. He was only able to get it down to its third phase twice during that entire time and mostly kept getting cornered. It wasn’t until he was in the middle of his eighteenth attempt that Sprx absentmindedly looked over at Gibson out of the corner of his eye, only to see Gibson tapping his fingers on the couch. 

‘No wonder I’m losing it!’ Sprx thought spitefully. ‘Didn’t want to help him so he decided to sabotage my entire run! Jerk.’

“Hey Gibson, ya mind not tapping the dang couch while I’m trying to concentrate here?” Sprx snapped as he dodged another attack.

He didn’t see Gibson face as he concentrated but he could feel the glare on the side of his head. He started to smile but immediately dropped it as the boss caught him in another animation loop. He frantically button mashed to get a health potion in before the final blow but knew his frantic mashing wouldn’t help him. The boss once again reared up as his character was trapped in the healing animation and smashed down, making the character’s health hit zero.

“UGH! This thing is impossible!” Sprx yelled as he all but flung the controller to the end of the couch and crossed his arms.

“Could you at least try to not cause property damage while you throw your tantrums?” Gibson scolded as he picked up the controller and examined it.

“Look at it this way, I could’ve thrown it at the floor.” Sprx spat back as he sunk into his seat.

“There’s no need to be cross at something that isn’t even real Sprx, it’s just a game.” Gibson said as he brought the controller back and deposited it at Sprx’s side before giving him a disappointed look.

‘It IsnT EvEn ReAl SprX, ItS JusT a GaMe.’ Sprx inwardly mocked. He sunk deeper into the couch as he tried to come up with something else to fight the boss. 

He saw Gibson out of the corner of his eye watching the screen as the character idled around and started tapping at the couch again. Honestly, if Gibson hadn’t been distracting him he probably would’ve beat the boss by now. 

Sprx ‘hmpft’ to himself, he’d like to see Gibson give this boss a try. Then he’d change his tune about how much of a challenge this actually was.

…Actually. 

“Say brain strain if you’re so sure this is ‘just a game’ why don’t _you_ give it a shot, hmm?”

Gibson stopping his tapping and gave the red monkey a look. “I thought you wanted to have the bragging rights to beating the boss.” 

“Well yeah, but I figured I could use a break from trying to beat this guy. Recharge the batteries and get my groove back. Figured while I do that I can watch someone else get slapped around for a while. It’s not like you could beat him on the first try anyway. This guy’s impossible on _beginners_.”

Gibson narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment. “And what if I was able to get him on my first try?”

Sprx laughed once and shrugged, “You get him on your first run and I’ll stay out of your lab for a whole month! I’ll even give you three tries because I’m so generous.” 

Gibson rolled his eyes but ultimately accepted the ‘deal’ and picked up the controller.

‘Heh, he’ll be grumbling about this boss in no time. And I’ll be the one laughing in the end!’ Sprx though as he put his arms behind his head and watched the screen as Gibson moved the character back into the boss’s chamber. 

As soon as the character crossed the threshold the music began. With its introduction cut scene already shown the boss, a knight in rusted silvery white armor duel wielding two gnarled swords, at the other side of the arena began to move immediately. It slithered toward Gibson’s character slowly, pausing for a second in front of him before attacking with sudden blinding speed.

Gibson dodged the attack effortlessly, and circled around watching the knight and tapping his tail on the couch the same was he had been previously tapping his fingers.

‘Alright, not bad.’ Sprx thought, ‘Some people fall for that fake out right away.’

Gibson waited as the knight ran and attacked twice more with the same move before he swung in, getting two hits on it before dodging away. The knight responded by throwing itself back halfway across the arena before barreling forward, swinging its weapons in a wide arching attack once it got the character within reach. Gibson dodged away to the side, narrow missing the edge of the attack’s hit box as he circled again.

A few minuets went by as Sprx watched Gibson dance toe to toe with the knight, swinging in at ample opportunities but ultimately playing it safe when it decided to swing back.

Gibson ran in after the knight had done another charge getting its health bar down to 2/3 before it roared, initiating the second phase of the fight.

‘Oh boy, now this is gonna get interesting.’ Sprx smiled as the knight revealed a second set of arms from behind its back, previously disguised as its armor, and manifested another pair of swords in a burst of blue fire. The other two original swords it had also lit up and now all four weapons were glowing a ethereal bright blue. 

The knight attacked immediately and with fury. Slashing and slicing everywhere in front of it before it aligned each weapon to one side and swung around in a complete circle. Gibson tried to dodge but in the last phase of the attack the knight slammed all four weapons down, directly on Gibson’s character and getting his health almost all the way down. 

Sprx sucked in the air through his teeth. He remembered getting his fair share of that attack when he was playing. It killed him constantly when he first got into the second phase. 

Gibson dodged out of range, trying to gain some distance as the knight initiated another charge attack. It barreled towards the character and Sprx held his breath as Gibson narrowly dodged out of the way at the last second. He downed some health potions, getting him back up to full heath before facing the boss again. 

The knight ran in close, slicing left and right before it crouched and uppercut on Gibson character. Gibson couldn’t dodge in time and instead responded by taking the hit and letting it launch the character across the arena, where he downed more potions and waited for another rush attack.

It was grueling to watch but Gibson still played it safe, waiting only until the knight charged and was left open at the end to take a hit. Tapping his tail while he took his time dodging the other attacks until the knight started to slice and slash again. 

Gibson had backed himself into a corner when it started a new attack. One blade sliced into Gibson character, then another, then another, again and again until Gibson was back down to his last bit of health.

Gibson grunted and Sprx smiled smugly. This attack was the one that always caught him in an animation loop and always got him killed. This was in the bag.

…Until Gibson did the last thing Sprx thought he would do and rolled _into_ the knight as it raised all four weapons up into the air and slammed down.

‘Holy-?!’ Sprx thought frantically, sitting up straight. ‘-Gibson are you actually insane?!’

The attack sailed just past the character’s hit box, giving Gibson a split second to recover and get one hit in before both he and the knight dodged away from one another. 

Sprx gawked at the screen before he clutched his hands to his seat. Instead of rolling away and getting stuck in a loop he rolled in and attacked, which forced the boss to jump back, which would give him just enough time to get a heal in.

‘Alright brainiac I’ll give it to ya, that was a smart move.’ Sprx thought reluctantly as he sat back. ‘Still isn’t the last phase yet though.’

No sooner had Sprx thought it than the boss charged again and Gibson got another hit, taking its health down to 1/3 and initiating the final phase. 

A cut scene played as the knight was beaten down. It sat there, one knee to the ground, unmoving for a second until wisps of blue fire began to appear in the background around it. Tens of wisps appeared one by one and circled for a few seconds before they all stopped and began to be drawn towards the knight.

The controller began to rumble as the wisps converged and the boss began to get up. The armor the knight was wearing began to shift, warping like it was melting under the heat until it began to take a new form. Sleek, shining armor fueled by the blue fire shimmering just underneath the metal was forged as the weapons also underwent a similar transformation, going from gnarled, unkempt swords to sharpened, glimmering blades. 

The knight stood completely, all four weapons fully lit ablaze in each hand. It roared as a circle of blue flame lit up around it, demonstrating its new power. 

It looked back, and pointed one sword to Gibson’s character and the cut scene ended.

‘All right! Third phase lets go!’ Sprx cheered internally as the knight lit up the area with blue flames. ‘Gibson’s gonna have to be careful with this, blue flames burn and now they’re limiting the area he can dodge.’

Gibson immediately began tapping the couch again, noticeably faster than before. Sprx was really getting annoyed with it at this point.

Before the knight could make a move at the character Gibson attacked it head on, getting two hits before it reacted with a hurricane of slicing weapons, far faster than before. Gibson dodged out of the way and took advantage of the animation and got two more hits in again before the knight lunged away. 

Gibson ran the character all the way to the opposite edge of the wall of fire as the knight charged at him again. He dodged as it crashed through the wall next to him and dodged again as it reappeared charging back through and stopping right beside the character. Gibson got one hit in before dodging the standard slicing attack and, like before, got one more hit when the boss finished the animation.

Sprx gripped his seat again. How was Gibson getting those attacks in so effortlessly? He could barely figure out how to avoid those attacks enough to get one hit in, never mind multiple hits. And he’s the one who’s been playing this game for hours! 

Gibson waited and attacked the knight after it charged again. Getting it down to a sliver of health before he seemed to throw all caution into the wind and began to slice at it with reckless abandon. 

The knight retaliated and was able to get two massive hits on the character, slamming down with all four weapons and causing them to explode in a wave of blue fire, effectively taking out more than two thirds of the character’s health and making Gibson grit his teeth. 

Sprx watched at the edge of his seat. If this was him he would be spamming the dodge and health buttons by now just to buy more time, but being able to watch the fight he was realizing that his way of playing might have actually been the wrong way to play.

In fact he was able to figure out most of the mistakes he had been making during his runs by watching this fight. As much as Sprx hated to admit it, Gibson was a smart player. Going from ‘slow and careful’ to ‘hit it until it dies’ was a huge risk to take, especially on a boss like this AND in its final phase, but dang if Sprx didn’t give him points for gusto.

‘I can’t believe it. Gibson’s might actually beat this boss! On his first try! It’s supposed to be impossible!’ Sprx thought as he put his hands on his head. 

Gibson made the character rush in taking a single smaller hit, which reduced his own health down to a sliver. The kngiht reared back up to plunge all four weapons into the ground again, but Gibson retaliated mid-attack with one final blow. 

Sprx arms swung bonelessly to his sides as his jaw dropped to the floor, watching in awe as the knight’s last remaining points of health hit zero. 

“Wha-“ Sprx stared at the screen dumbfounded as the boss did it’s dying animation.

A cut scene played again. The blue flames burst from the armor in geysers of fire as the knight roared one last time. The light of the fire blazing intensely before it dimmed and was snuffed out completely. The armor was still for a second before it began to clank to the ground piece by piece, steaming from the heat, but completely empty. Whatever had been fighting inside was burnt to ashes.

The wisps stood in the air again watching, waiting, until they once again began converging, but this time to the weapon the character had in its hand. Blue fire emblazoned the weapon making it glow a blinding blue until it faded away. The character looked at the weapon before making a testing swipe, watching as an arch of blue flame followed behind the weapon and a title card appeared on the screen with the words “Corrupted Paladin of Blue Embers:” in bold white letters and a dramatic “Slayed!” followed in bright blue. A little icon at the bottom right of the screen appeared as the game auto saved. 

“Hm, a bit tacky in my opinion but I suppose blue fire is all the rage with gamers, no?” Gibson asked as he handed Sprx the controller. 

“How did you do that?” Sprx stared at Gibson in shock while Gibson just looked back confused. 

“How did you do that!?!” Sprx yelled more frantically and pointed at the screen.

“What do you mean how did I do that? You watched me fight the boss. Was that not what you wanted me to do?” 

“You know exactly what I mean, don’t play dumb.” Sprx accused as he narrowed his eyes. “That boss is one of the hardest fights in the game! Otto couldn’t beat it, Nova couldn’t beat it, heck even Chiro and me couldn’t even beat it! How is it an egghead like you, who doesn’t even like videogames in the first place, beats the hardest boss on his first try!?”

Gibson gave a ‘hmpft’ and crossed his arms. “Just because I don’t indulge in these types of things doesn’t mean I am completely clueless about them Sprx. I’ll have you know that I had actually looked into different types of games some time ago after the events of Flytor. I found in my studies that video games can actually accomplish many beneficial things, including reducing stress level, improve memory, and even play a roll in hand-eye coordination, depending on what video game you are playing of course. Even more interestingly, some mechanics used by these games can actually branch out into categories of science such as physics, quantum physics, mathematics, history-”

“Still doesn’t explain how you just did what you did.“ Sprx interrupted. “What the actual monkey-doodling heck was that?!”

Gibson rolled his eyes. “First of all, language. Second of all, have you ever heard of 4/4 notation?”

“…No? What’s that? Math?”

“It’s music actually. Four quarter notes to each single bar on a music sheet makes up the 4/4 notation. In rhythm form it would be heard as 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4. You’ll find that it pairs up incredible well along the music and attack animations used in this game.”

Sprx looked at Gibson skeptically. “And you figured that out while fighting the boss?” 

“I figured it out by watching _you_ fight the boss. It is why I was tapping the couch. I was trying to pair up the rhythm of the boss’s movements and attacks along with specific tempos to find an exact match. Once I did it was fairly easy to predict what attacks were going to happen. Along with the visual animations and accompanying music, this fight was honestly not so challenging.”

“In fact, most if not all bosses in this type of game can be broken down into this specific 4/4 notation. If you think about it there are four notes in a stand, and each frame of animation from the boss happens on each note. Note one is starting animation, notes two and three are the windup animations, and the fourth note is typically the one that deals the damage. A boss can spice up notes 2 and 3 for flare, but this pattern will typically stand throughout the entire match. You can even apply this to standard enemies in the game.”

Gibson gestured to the screen.

“However, this boss in particular just so happens to be using a 3/4 notation, which is different from 4/4. Instead of having the notes be 1-2-3-4, the notes go 1-2-3, 1-2-3. The starting animation is still the first note, but notes two and three can vary between a windup or a straight up attack. This boss even waited a few beats before starting the attack to try and throw me off. A challenge sure, but not an impossible fight. I only suspect that it was dubbed the hardest because it is the only one like that throughout the entire game, giving the illusion of difficulty in comparison to the other bosses.” 

Sprx sat there with his mouth agape, trying to find the words to speak but ultimately finding nothing. He stared back up at the screen watching his little character stand idly before picking up the controller and giving the weapon a few swings. 

“Are you telling me that you figured out this entire boss’s deal by turning the fight into some kind of…rhythm game?” Sprx asked, still not entirely sure how to process.

“If that helps you wrap your mind around it, yes…to a certain degree.” Gibson stated plainly. ““I’ll admit using 3/4 notation was a bit of outlandish thinking, especially for game like this, but I think that makes it all the more fascinating. For this specific boss you are required to step outside your usual gameplay and think critically about how you need to beat it. Because it is so different to everything else in the game you need to come up with something just as unique to stand a chance. It actually is a testimate on how certain things can be interconnected even if they are absolutely unrelated to one another. In fact-”

Sprx promptly tuned Gibson out as he continued talking with practiced ease. There was only so much Sprx was willing to absorb with Gibson’s rants when he really started going, but if Sprx was honest the whole musical thing was…kind of neat?

Not that Sprx would tell Gibson this. Didn’t need to have any reasons for Gibson to have a bigger ego than he gets when he’s proven right. But still. If playing a rhythm game is what it honestly took to take down this boss then Sprx would admit he’d probably rage quit a whole lot before he even would think about trying out a strategy like that. Not that he was above trying out that kind of tactic, he just wouldn’t have been able to figure that was the tactic he needed to use. 

“I’m gonna have to make a new character file now, I hope you know that.” Sprx said offhandedly. “I’m not gonna be able to enjoy this until I beat that guy myself.”

Gibson stopped talking and raised an eyebrow at Sprx. 

“…Think you could use your rhythm strat to speed run the other bosses and help me get back up to this point so I can fight him?” Sprx said trying to sound aloof and hoping he didn’t sound too hopeful.

“Ah, beg your pardon?” Gibson said, adjusting his audio receptors. “Did you just admit you need my help with something? Me? Gibson? The monkey you hate taking advice from the most?”

“Don’t get cocky it was just a suggestion.” Sprx grumbled as he crossed his arms. “And I don’t hate your advice, you just talk a lot and don’t get to the point fast enough. Beside you owe me. I didn’t think you’d actually beat that boss and now my reputation for kicking its butt myself is on the line!”

Gibson gave the red monkey a blank look.

“Ok fine, I’ll stay out of your lab AND do your chores for a whole month if you help me get back up here. Deal?” Sprx relented as he exited out to the games menu. 

“Make it one and a half and I accept.” Gibson stated as he walked over to the front of the couch.

“Whatever _brain strain_ , it’s a deal.” Sprx rolled his eyes as he scooted over to give Gibson room to sit beside him.

All right fine, maybe he underestimated Gibson when he said the boss wasn’t that big a deal and maybe Gibson was way better at video games than he thought.

...He was still gonna kick that boss’s butt by himself this time.

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to do something slightly different than my usually style of writing. Normally I would fret a lot about the dialogue and setting on a fic but this one I decided to just let it go and see where it took me. 
> 
> If anybody is wondering, I was inspired to write this fic because of a video I saw on the Dark Souls boss, Dancer of the Boreal Valley by The Game Theorists. 
> 
> It was really fun to watch and learn about how the boss was programmed and the video itself made me think of Gibson and his process of thinking. To use music theory of all things to one up Sprx at his own literal game just seemed funny to me when I stared to write this.
> 
> Also, forgive me if I got the music explanation part slightly off from the video. I'm not too familiar with music theory myself, but I tried to be accurate. 
> 
> Enjoy!


End file.
